Metal-oxide semiconductor transistor and method for fabricating the same

ABSTRACT

A method for fabricating a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: providing a semiconductor substrate; forming a silicon layer on the semiconductor substrate; performing a first photo-etching process on the silicon layer for forming a gate pattern; forming an epitaxial layer in the semiconductor substrate adjacent to two sides of the gate pattern; and performing a second photo-etching process on the gate pattern to form a slot in the gate pattern while using the gate pattern to physically separate the gate pattern into two gates.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a method for fabricating MOS transistor, andmore particularly, to a method of defining polysilicon slot beforeformation of epitaxial layer.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In the field of semiconductor fabrication, the use of polysiliconmaterial is diverse. Having a strong resistance for heat, polysiliconmaterials are commonly used to fabricate gate electrodes for metal-oxidesemiconductor transistors. The gate pattern fabricated by polysiliconmaterials is also used to form self-aligned source/drain regions aspolysilicon readily blocks ions from entering the channel region.

As the dimension of semiconductor devices decreases, the fabrication oftransistors also improves substantially for fabricating small size andhigh quality transistors. Conventional approach of fabricating the gateof metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistors typically forms apolysilicon layer on a semiconductor substrate and a hard mask on thepolysilicon layer before using two photo-etching processes (PEP) topattern the polysilicon layer and the hard mask into a gate of thetransistor. Preferably, the first photo-etching process is conducted topattern the hard mask and the polysilicon layer into a plurality ofrectangular polysilicon gate pattern as the second photo-etching processforms a polysilicon slot in each of the rectangular gate pattern forseparating each gate pattern into two gates. Thereafter, elementsincluding spacers are formed on the sidewall of the gate and lightlydoped drains and epitaxial layer are formed in the semiconductorsubstrate adjacent to two sides of the spacer.

However, as the polysilicon slot is preferably formed before theformation of epitaxial layer, the etching ratio involved during theformation of the polysilicon slot typically affects the processthereafter. For instance, if the etching ratio of the secondphoto-etching process is low, the gate pattern would not be etchedthrough completely to form the polysilicon slot and phenomenon such aspolysilicon residue and line end bridge would result, whereas if theetching ratio of the second photo-etching process is high, the hard maskdisposed on top of the polysilicon gate pattern would be consumed, whichwould further induce consumption of the spacer formed on the sidewall ofthe gate thereafter. As some of the spacer on the sidewall is consumedaway, a portion of the gate is exposed and un-wanted epitaxial layerwould be formed on the exposed portion of the gate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an objective of the present invention to provide a method forfabricating a MOS transistor for resolving the aforementioned issuecaused by conventional approach.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a methodfor fabricating a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor isdisclosed. The method includes the steps of: providing a semiconductorsubstrate; forming a silicon layer on the semiconductor substrate;performing a first photo-etching process on the silicon layer forforming a gate pattern; forming an epitaxial layer in the semiconductorsubstrate adjacent to two sides of the gate pattern; and performing asecond photo-etching process on the gate pattern to form a slot in thegate pattern while using the gate pattern to physically separate thegate pattern into two gates.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a metal-oxidesemiconductor (MOS) transistor is disclosed. The MOS transistorincludes: a semiconductor substrate; a gate disposed on thesemiconductor substrate, wherein the gate comprises four sidewalls, andtwo of the four sidewalls opposite to each other comprise a spacerthereon while the other two sidewalls opposite to each other comprise nospacer; and an epitaxial layer disposed in the semiconductor substrateadjacent to two sides of the spacer.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-6 illustrate a method for fabricating a MOS transistor accordingto a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 1-6, FIGS. 1-6 illustrate a method for fabricating aMOS transistor according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 1, a semiconductor substrate 12, such as asilicon substrate or a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate is provided.At least an active region 14 is defined on the semiconductor substrate12 and a plurality of shallow trench isolations (STI) 16 are formed forseparating the active region 14 from adjacent regions or devices.

A gate insulating layer (not shown) composed of dielectric material suchas oxides or nitrides is deposited on surface of the semiconductorsubstrate 12, and a polysilicon layer preferably with a depth ofapproximately 1000 Angstroms and a hard mask are formed sequentially onthe gate insulating layer thereafter. In this embodiment, the hard maskcould be selected from a material consisting of SiO₂, silicon nitride,and SiON, and the polysilicon layer could be composed of undopedpolysilicon material or polysilicon with N+ dopants, which are allwithin the scope of the present invention.

Next, a photo-etching process is performed on the hard mask and thepolysilicon layer by first forming a patterned photoresist (not shown)on the hard mask and then using the photoresist as mask to carry out apatterning process. The patterning process preferably removes a portionof the hard mask, the polysilicon layer and the gate insulating layerthrough a single or multiple etching to form a gate pattern 24 composedof patterned gate insulating layer 18, patterned polysilicon layer 20,and patterned hard mask 22 in the active region 14. The patternedphotoresist is removed subsequent to the patterning process.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 2 illustrates a top view of the gateformed after the first photo-etching process. As shown in the figure, aplurality of rectangular gate patterns 24 are formed on thesemiconductor substrate 12 after the aforementioned first photo-etchingprocess, in which each gate pattern 24 is composed of a patterned gateinsulating layer 18, a patterned gate polysilicon layer 20, and apatterned hard mask 22.

As shown in FIG. 3, a first stage spacer formation is conducted by firstdepositing a silicon oxide layer (not shown) and a silicon nitride layer(not shown) on the semiconductor substrate 12. An etching back iscarried thereafter to remove a portion of the silicon oxide layer andsilicon nitride layer to form a first spacer 30 composed of siliconoxide layer 26 and silicon nitride layer 28 on the sidewall of the gatepattern 24.

Next, a selective epitaxial growth (SEG) process is performed to form astrained silicon in the semiconductor substrate 12. For instance, apatterned photoresist (not shown) could be formed on the semiconductorsubstrate, and an etching process is conducted to form two recesses 34in the semiconductor substrate 12 adjacent to two sides of the gatepattern 24. A surface clean is carried out thereafter to completelyremove native oxides or other impurities from the surface of therecesses 34. Next, a selective epitaxial growth process is performed tosubstantially fill the two recesses 34 for forming an epitaxial layer36. Preferably, a light ion implantation could be conducted before theformation of the first spacer 30 and the epitaxial layer 36 to implantn-type or p-type dopants into the semiconductor substrate 12 adjacent totwo sides of the gate pattern 24 for forming a lightly doped drain 32,and the material of the epitaxial layer 36 could be selected accordingto the type of the transistor or demand of the product.

For instance, if the transistor fabricated were to be a PMOS transistor,an epitaxial layer 36 composed of silicon germanium is preferably formedin the recesses 34 to provide a compressive strain to the channel regionof the PMOS transistor thereby increasing the hole mobility of thetransistor. Conversely, if the transistor fabricated were to be a NMOStransistor, an epitaxial layer composed of silicon carbide (SiC) ispreferably formed in the recesses 34 to provide a tensile strain to thechannel region of the NMOS transistor for increasing the electronmobility of the transistor.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectionalview of the gate pattern after FIG. 3 and FIG. 5 illustrates a top viewof the gate according to this embodiment. As shown in the figures, thehard mask 22 disposed on top of the polysilicon layer 20 is removed, anda spacer material layer, such as a silicon oxide layer (not shown) and asilicon nitride layer (not shown) are deposited sequentially on thesemiconductor substrate 12. A photo-etching process is then carried outby first forming a patterned photoresist (not shown) on the polysiliconlayer 20 and performing an etching process by using the patternedphotoresist as mask to remove the polysilicon layer 20 on top of theshallow trench isolation 16, such as a part of the two ends and centralportion of the polysilicon layer 20 for forming at least a polysiliconslot 38 in the rectangular gate pattern 24. The polysilicon slot 38preferably separates the gate pattern 24 into two independent gates 46.After stripping the patterned photoresist and cleaning off remainingparticles from the surface of the semiconductor substrate 12, an etchingback is conducted on the deposited silicon oxide layer (not shown) andsilicon nitride layer (not shown) for forming a second spacer 44composed of silicon oxide layer 40 and silicon nitride layer 42 on thesidewall of the gate 46.

For simplification purpose, only one gate pattern 24 is revealed in FIG.5 and other doping regions including lightly doped drain and epitaxiallayers are also omitted. As shown in the figure, the polysilicon slot 38preferably divides the gate pattern 24 into two independent portions,and as part of the silicon oxide layer 40 and silicon nitride layer 42is removed for forming the polysilicon slot 38 and separating the gatepattern 24, no spacer is formed on at least two opposite sidewalls ofthe gate 46 after the separation. In other words, a second spacer 44composed of silicon oxide layer 40 and silicon nitride layer 42 isformed on two opposite sidewalls of the polysilicon gate 46, whereas theother two remaining opposite sidewall contain no spacer.

Preferably, the polysilicon slot 38 is formed after the removal of thehard mask to facilitate a rework process conducted afterwards. Forinstance, a rework is typically carried out during a lithography forforming the polysilicon slot 38, and as the hard mask 22 is removed fromthe active region 14 of the semiconductor substrate 12 before rework iscarried out, the exposed silicon substrate surface becomes unprotected.Unfortunately, reacting gas such as oxygen used to remove photoresistmaterial during rework typically accumulates native oxides on thesurface of the substrate or forms recesses on the substrate. Hence, thepresent embodiment preferably removes the hard mask 22 from thepolysilicon layer 20 and then deposits the aforementioned silicon oxideand silicon nitride layer on the substrate 12. These deposited siliconoxide and silicon nitride layer could not only be used as materiallayers for forming the second spacer, but also be used as etching maskfor forming the polysilicon slot and protecting the active region.

In addition to forming the polysilicon slot after removing the hardmask, as addressed in the above embodiment, the polysilicon slot 38could also be formed at any point after the epitaxial layer 36 isformed, which is within the scope of the present invention.

Moreover, the above embodiment of forming the second spacer preferablyforms a silicon oxide layer and a silicon nitride layer before theetching back process, and then using one single etching back tosimultaneously remove a portion of the silicon oxide layer and siliconnitride layer for forming the second spacer. However, the presentinvention could also deposit a single silicon oxide layer before thepolysilicon slot is formed, and then deposit a silicon nitride layerafter the formation of the polysilicon slot to form different MOStransistor structures.

For instance, a silicon oxide layer 40 could be deposited on thesemiconductor substrate 12 after removing the hard mask, and afterfollowing the aforementioned step for forming the polysilicon slot 38, asilicon nitride layer 42 is deposited on the substrate 12, and a portionof the silicon oxide layer 40 and silicon nitride layer 42 are removedthrough etching back process to form the second spacer 44. As shown inFIG. 6, as part of the silicon oxide layer 40 is removed during theformation of the polysilicon slot 38, the silicon oxide layer 40 of thesecond spacer 44 would only be disposed on two opposite sidewall of thegate, and as the silicon nitride layer 42 of the second spacer 44 isdeposited after the formation of the polysilicon slot 38, the siliconnitride layer 42 is preferably formed on four sidewalls of the gate 46.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a siliconoxide layer 40 could be deposited on the semiconductor substrate 12after removing the hard mask, and after following the aforementionedapproach for forming the polysilicon slot 38, an etching back is carriedout to remove a portion of the silicon oxide layer 40 for forming asecond spacer, and then depositing a silicon nitride layer 42 on thesubstrate 12, and then performing another etching back to remove part ofthe silicon nitride layer 42 for forming a third spacer. Despite thefabrication sequence of this embodiment is slightly different from theabove approach, the same transistor structure as disclosed in FIG. 6could be fabricated.

In contrast to the conventional approach of forming polysilicon slotbefore the epitaxial layer, the present invention uses a firstphoto-etching process to define a rectangular polysilicon gate pattern,forms an epitaxial layer adjacent to two sides of the gate pattern, andthen uses a second photo-etching process to define the polysilicon slotwhile separating the gate pattern into two gates. As the definition ofthe polysilicon slot is carried after the formation of the epitaxiallayer, issues such as line end bridge of epitaxial layer and growth ofepitaxial layer on sidewall of the gate could be preventedsubstantially.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention.

1. A method for fabricating a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS)transistor, comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; forming asilicon layer on the semiconductor substrate; performing a firstphoto-etching process on the silicon layer for forming a gate pattern;forming an epitaxial layer in the semiconductor substrate adjacent totwo sides of the gate pattern; and after forming the epitaxial layer,performing a second photo-etching process on the gate pattern to form aslot in the gate pattern while using the gate pattern to physicallyseparate the gate pattern into two gates.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein after forming the silicon layer comprises: forming a hard maskon the silicon layer; performing the first photo-etching process on thehard mask and the silicon layer for forming the gate pattern; forming afirst spacer around the gate pattern; forming a lightly doped drain inthe semiconductor substrate adjacent to two sides of the gate pattern;forming at least a recess in the semiconductor substrate adjacent to twosides of the first spacer; forming the epitaxial layer in the recess;removing the hard mask disposed on the silicon layer; forming a firstdielectric layer on the semiconductor substrate while covering the gatepattern; performing the second photo-etching process on the gatepattern, the first spacer, and the first dielectric layer to form theslot in the gate pattern; and removing a portion of the first dielectriclayer for forming a second spacer.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thesemiconductor substrate comprises at least a shallow trench isolation,and the step of forming the slot in the gate pattern further comprisesremoving the silicon layer disposed on the shallow trench isolation. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the hard mask comprises silicon nitride.5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of forming the first spacercomprises: forming a silicon oxide layer and a silicon nitride layer onthe semiconductor substrate; and etching back the silicon oxide layerand the silicon nitride layer for forming the first spacer.
 6. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the first dielectric layer comprises asilicon oxide layer and a silicon nitride layer.
 7. The method of claim2, wherein after performing the second photo-etching process comprises:forming a second dielectric layer on the semiconductor substrate; andremoving a portion of the first dielectric layer and the seconddielectric layer for forming the second spacer.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein the first dielectric layer comprises a silicon oxide layerand the second dielectric layer comprises a silicon nitride layer. 9.The method of claim 2, wherein after forming the second spacercomprises: forming a second dielectric layer on the semiconductorsubstrate; and removing a portion of the second dielectric layer forforming a third spacer.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the firstdielectric layer comprises a silicon oxide layer and the seconddielectric layer comprises a silicon nitride layer.
 11. A metal-oxidesemiconductor (MOS) transistor, comprising: a semiconductor substrate; agate disposed on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the gate comprisesfour sidewalls, and two of the four sidewalls opposite to each othercomprise a spacer thereon while the other two sidewalls opposite to eachother comprise no said spacer; and an epitaxial layer disposed in thesemiconductor substrate adjacent to two sides of the spacer.
 12. The MOStransistor of claim 11, wherein the spacer comprises a first spacer anda second spacer.
 13. The MOS transistor of claim 12, wherein each of thefirst spacer and the second spacer comprises silicon oxide and siliconnitride.
 14. The MOS transistor of claim 11, wherein the epitaxial layercomprises silicon germanium or silicon carbide.